Gwendy's Button Box

“On his head is a small neat black hat. The time will come when Gwendy has nightmares about that hat.”

King and Chizmar use Mr. Farris’s hat as an ominous symbol for The Weight and Isolation of Secrets. Throughout the novella, Gwendy sees Mr. Farris’s hat when she doubts or fears the power or reality of the button box. This first appearance of the hat foreshadows the complicated life Gwendy will live as guardian of the button box—one that will often force Gwendy to experience nightmare scenarios and horrors.

“She feels punched in the stomach. ‘Mr. Farris, why did you give this to me? Why me?’

‘Stashed away in this world of ours,’ Farris says, looking down at her, ‘are great arsenals of weapons that could destroy all life on this planet for a million years. The men and women in charge of them ask themselves that same question every day. It is you because you were the best choice of those in this place at this time. Take care of the box. I advise you not to let anyone find it, not just your parents, because people are curious. When they see a lever, they want to pull it. And when they see a button, they want to push it.’

‘But what happens if they do? What happens if I do?’”

Mr. Farris never explicitly tells Gwendy exactly what the buttons on the button box do, underscoring the novella’s thematic interest in Fate Versus Free Will. King and Chizmar imbue Mr. Farris with an omniscient quality—reflected in his knowledge of Gwendy as the best choice to use and guard the box—positioning him in the role of an impartial guide/mentor in the narrative.

“She next considers the attic, but what if her parents finally decide to clean it out and have a yard sale instead of just talking about it? The same is true of the storage space over the garage. Gwendy has a thought (novel now in its adult implications, later to become a tiresome truth): secrets are a problem, maybe the biggest problem of all. They weigh on the mind and take up space in the world.”

While Gwendy is the guardian of the button box, she cannot tell anyone that she has the box. As a result, she is tormented by her dark secret and the effect it has on her friendships and relationships, highlighting the novella’s thematic interest in The Weight of Isolation and Secrets.